Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is effective in suppressing HIV replication but it fails to eliminate latent viral reservoirs in HIV infected resting CD4+ T cells which, in blood, consist mainly of central and transitional memory CD4+ T cells [1-4]. Current ART options do not eradicate HIV from infected cells. In addition, these cells are invisible to the virus-specific immune responses in the setting of viral latency [5,6]. The viral reservoir is rapidly seeded and HIV latency might be established immediately after virus infection [7,8]. Despite initiation of ART in infants within hours of birth to HIV infected mothers, stable viral reservoirs were established and viral rebound occurred when therapy was interrupted [9]. In the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) model of AIDS, stable viral reservoirs are established within 2.5 days of infection [10]. The viral reactivation was detected in rhesus macaques following therapy interruption despite the initiation of ART at 3 days post SIV infection [10,11]. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that a very early initiation of ART may not be sufficient to prevent nor eliminate latent virus reservoirs [9,11,12]. It has been observed that the morbidity of HIV persistence in HIV-positive individuals on long-term ART includes drug toxicities and a higher risk of developing complications including dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance [13-15]. Therefore, a therapeutic cure of HIV is urgently needed that leads to viral eradication and experimental strategies for directly targeting HIV latent reservoirs need to be developed. The present invention satisfies these needs and provides related advantages as well.